Chris Evans could have continued his Marvel journey long after ‘Avengers: Endgame’, but the actor has now revealed that he deliberately walked away from a promising future for Steve Rogers. Despite Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pitching him a new chapter as Nomad, Evans wasn’t ready to continue the story.
The actor said that preserving the legacy of Captain America was more important to him than just going back to make another movie. Years later, he was finally persuaded to get back on the horse.
Chris Evans Heard A Dozen Marvel Pitches Before Finally Saying Yes
Following ‘Avengers: Endgame’, Feige and Marvel executive Louis D’Esposito invited Evans to dinner with plans to keep Steve Rogers alive in the MCU as the comic-book character known as Nomad, a comic-book identity the hero adopts after stepping away from the Captain America mantle.
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Evans said that the pitch itself was good, but it wasn’t working for him. “They showed me a pitch, and it was a great pitch, but, for some reason, it just didn’t feel right at the time. I wanted to preserve that. But I just said: ‘Please, keep pitching me ideas,” he told EW.
He didn’t want to rush into another chapter; he wanted to keep the emotional ending that Steve got in ‘Endgame’. The actor’s exit from the character’s role was a complete one for him. So, he was afraid to come back too early. He believed would’ve made one of the MCU’s best endings less impactful.
However, Evans did not close the door totally. Rather, he would ask Marvel to continue to feed him suggestions, hoping that one day it would be good enough for the character’s legacy. He heard about a dozen different pitches over the years.
He complimented all of them, but none seemed to be the right fit to continue Steve Rogers’ legacy. “I kind of wanted to, I was a little precious. I wanted to preserve it. But I just said, ‘Please keep pitching.’”
Robert Downey Jr.’s Marvel Return Is What Finally Brought Chris Evans Back
It all changed when Evans heard that Robert Downey Jr. was being considered to come back to Marvel. When Joe Russo told Evans the backstory of ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ and he knew Downey would be returning as Doctor Doom, the project took a turn.
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Rather than just a Captain America remake, it was a much larger event that brought together some of the most important characters from the Infinity Saga. “I got a phone call from my team saying there’s a rumor that Robert Downey Jr. is talking to Marvel, and I was like, ‘Uh, oh. What does this mean?’” Evans said. “And all of a sudden it felt right.
Evans says he still feels that going back to the MCU should never be done for the sake of nostalgia. Each appearance must be earned and respect the character’s history, in his opinion. “This stuff, it’s earned its position over a long period of time. You don’t want to mess with that.”
Instead of taking the first juicy deal, Evans opted for patience, and he made sure that Steve Rogers wasn’t going to come back if it wasn’t worth the hype. The announcement brings a fresh twist to ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ for fans.
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